PM Holds Meet on Ukraine Crisis: 4 Ministers to Travel to Ukraine Neighbourhood to Oversee Evacuation of Indians

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting on the Ukraine crisis and evacuation of Indian students who are stranded in the middle of Russia’s invasion. And in a bid to step up its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in war-torn Ukraine, the Centre on Monday decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, government sources said.

These ministers will be going there as “special envoys” of India, they said. Several ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, also attended the meeting.

Modi had chaired a meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Sunday too and had asserted that ensuring the safety of Indian students and evacuating them is the government’s top priority. It was also decided at the meeting to further enhance cooperation with the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to expedite the evacuation of Indian students, sources had said.

During the second high-level meeting in the last 24 hours over the prevailing situation in Ukraine, PM Modi once again reiterated that ensuring the safety of Indian students and evacuating them is the nation’s top priority. It was also discussed to further enhance cooperation with neighbouring countries of Ukraine to expedite the evacuation of the stranded Indians.

As per reports, over 16,000 students are believed to be still stuck in Ukraine, hiding in bunkers, bomb shelters, or their hostel basements.

The union government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched operation Ganga to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens from the conflict-torn Ukraine. Special flights are being operated by Air India under “Operation Ganga”. Meanwhile, a fifth flight carrying 249 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine landed in New Delhi today morning.